DOJ’s Criminal Probe of E. Jean Carroll Goes Well Beyond Lawfare
“Ms. Carroll has recollected additional information. … She now recalls that at some point her counsel secured additional funding from a nonprofit organization …”
Sources told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the Department of Justice had opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, 82, the former advice columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in New York City. Reminiscent of Christine Blasey Ford, Carroll wasn’t quite sure when the attack had occurred, but thought it may have been in 1995 or 1996.
In fact, she hadn’t even planned on going public with her story. She changed her mind after meeting attorney George Conway at a party for Kathy Griffin at the Manhattan home of far-left journalist Molly Jong-Fast. The Washington Examiner’s Byron York described the scene in a 2023 pre-trial article.
Conway was someone important for Carroll to meet. A high-powered lawyer, back in the 1990s, he had been part of the so-called elves, a group of lawyers who secretly helped Paula Jones sue President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. By 2019, Conway was in a far different position. His wife, Kellyanne Conway, ran Trump’s campaign and went to the White House as a top adviser. For his part, George Conway was originally interested in a big job in the Trump Justice Department. Later, when that did not happen, he became virulently anti-Trump, so much so that he would be invited to a party for Griffin at Jong-Fast’s apartment. At that party, Conway became an elf all over again.
Conway persuaded Carroll that she should sue Trump for defamation. The idea was that when Trump denied having met her and then said she was making up the rape accusation to sell a book and then said she, Carroll, was not his type, that was all defamation. Carroll could sue Trump for that, and then, of course, the case would focus on whether the alleged rape actually occurred, so it would be like having a rape trial for Trump even though the statute of limitations was long passed.
Carroll said she had never been interested in suing Trump, but the talk with Conway convinced her. Conway even suggested a lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, who had co-founded a #MeToo legal defense nonprofit group called Time’s Up. Kaplan was apparently deeply committed to helping victims of sexual abuse but deeply committed to politics, too. …
Carroll made the allegations in a 2019 memoir. Trump vehemently denied the claims and accused her of fabricating the story for political and financial gain. In a 2019 interview with The Hill, he said: “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened.”
Carroll later sued Trump for defamation. In 2023, a Manhattan jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages. A second jury in 2024 ordered Trump to pay an additional $83.3 million for continuing to make defamatory remarks about Carroll after the first verdict. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has appealed the judgments.
The DOJ’s investigation focuses on contradictory statements she had made about a material fact in the case. The Washington Examiner’s Byron York reported that during an October 2022 deposition, Carroll stated under oath that no one was paying her legal bills.
On the reported criminal investigation of E. Jean Carroll — this is apparently what it is about. From April 2023, "Carroll v. Trump: The rape case that started at a Resistance party." https://t.co/yszo2259QM pic.twitter.com/XCdEBgcliT
— Byron York (@ByronYork) May 28, 2026
Six months later, however, on the eve of the trial, her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, wrote to Trump’s legal team to say:
During the course of preparing for her testimony at trial, Ms. Carroll has recollected additional information. While Ms. Carroll stands by that testimony about this case being a contingency case, she now recalls that at some point her counsel secured additional funding from a nonprofit organization to offset certain expenses and legal fees.
The “nonprofit organization” turned out to be American Future Republic, a group funded in large part by LinkedIn co-founder, progressive activist, and rabid anti-Trumper Reid Hoffman.
It was a game changing revelation which Trump’s attorneys argued amounted to a “belated disclosure of material information” that raised “significant concerns as to [Carroll’s] bias and motive in commencing” the lawsuit against Trump.
They argued in vain. Judge Lewis Kaplan refused to delay the trial or treat the newly disclosed information as disqualifying. His sole concession was permitting Trump’s legal team to question Carroll under oath, within limited bounds, about Hoffman’s financial support.
Though many Democrats have reflexively condemned the DOJ’s investigation as lawfare, Carroll may ultimately find herself confronting far more serious legal exposure than her defenders are willing to admit.
If we transport ourselves back to 2023, it is difficult to overstate just how heavily the deck appeared to be stacked against Trump. He was battling legal challenges on multiple fronts, facing relentless media hostility, and contending with a political and cultural establishment that overwhelmingly treated Carroll’s claims as settled fact long before the case ever reached a courtroom.
The New York legislature even passed a law in 2022 creating a special one-year “lookback window” that allowed alleged victims of sexual assault to file civil lawsuits even if the statute of limitations had long since expired. The measure, known as the Adult Survivors Act, temporarily revived claims that otherwise could not have proceeded in court, opening the door for decades-old accusations to be litigated. Carroll filed her lawsuit against Trump hours after this newly created legal window took effect.
Finally, Hot Air’s David Strom notes the striking similarities between E. Jean’s story and the plot of a 2012 episode of “Law and Order: SVU” that “featured a rape in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, while a victim was trying on lingerie.” Hmmm.
Whether one believes Carroll’s claims or Trump’s denials, the unanswered questions surrounding this case are too significant to simply wave away as partisan noise. The late disclosure of outside funding, the extraordinary legal pathway created by the Adult Survivors Act, and the breathtaking size of the judgments against Trump — including the staggering $83.3 million defamation award, which many see as confiscatory rather than compensatory — have fueled legitimate concerns about fairness, proportionality, and due process. What once appeared untouchable in the public narrative is now being reexamined under a far harsher legal spotlight, and the DOJ’s investigation suggests that the story may be far more complicated than Carroll’s allies once insisted.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
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Comments
This whole episode was a conspiracy to frame Trump and should be treated as such with all parties hauled in a questioned under oath including Conway and Hoffman. They all suffer from severe TDS and would do anything to get Trump. I’ve despised those two for years since they came to my attention.
If a new trial is held in NCD, Trump will lose again. No matter the charges the judges and jury pool are so jaded he will never get a fair trial.
Folks, take it from me. I am a red blooded American boy who absolutely loves beautiful women. I am a subject matter expert.
I can say with absolute certainty, complete confidence, and unshakable faith that *nothing* happened between Mr. Trump and this hideous lizard. Mr. Trump has demonstrated again and again that he has impeccable taste in women. Mrs. Trump is absolutely one of the most stunningly beautiful women in the world, not just when she was younger, it’s true today. His previous wives were gorgeous. This mummy is a 0/10.
In fact, if a lowland gorilla suddenly showed up on TMZ and made accusations against Mr. Trump, that chimp’s story would have more credibility.
It. Did. Not. Happen..
I can’t believe a billionaire could walk around in Bergdorf Goodman’s without being swarmed by salespeople working on commission.
Not believable.
I can’t believe a billionaire would walk around alone in public without assistants and personal security,
Or to put it bluntly, given the quality of kitteh this fella has had over the years she simply doesn’t rate a mention or a sideways look.
Apparently, the execrable Carroll’s claims are as transparently baseless, contrived and politically motivated as those of her fellow traveler harridan-kook, the equally vile Christine Blasey Ford.
“My politically motivated, slanderous and contrived accusations like indelible in the hippocampus.”
“…lie indelible…”
the usa has been (finally??) railroaded into submission
the whole “Believe all women” believe all blks deny what the cameras actually show us,,agenda has metastasized into the cancer aka leftism
there is no other way to look at it
its not been a failure of capitalism but of socialisms economic links to communismnazism and protected by the blmplo street armies with scant reversals to the agenda
its going to take 2 trumps in the scotus 50 trumps as mayors and governors and at least 4 terms in the wh of the same to rectify these atrocities
meanwhile ..the 11 circuit court judge (blk female) who was bangn some blk police chief was not ony given cover by the courts systems ( her id finally revealed by pro americans!!) but her punishment was apology letters to her workers and the *promise* to not let her judicial robe get felt up again
Everything anyone needs to know about this case is in this statement taken from the article above:
“The New York legislature even passed a law in 2022 creating a special one-year “lookback window” that allowed alleged victims of sexual assault to file civil lawsuits even if the statute of limitations had long since expired. The measure, known as the Adult Survivors Act, temporarily revived claims that otherwise could not have proceeded in court, opening the door for decades-old accusations to be litigated. Carroll filed her lawsuit against Trump hours after this newly created legal window took effect.”
Yup. That’s the gun that we saw smoking years ago.
What good are statutes of limitation if they can be whimsically suspended at any time for any ex post facto reason?
Democrats like the ex post facto s*t. Check out the Lautenberg domestic violence law.
1. The law wasn’t made for Trump, and wasn’t motivated by Trump-hatred. The legislature had previously, after many years of campaigning, created such a year for plaintiffs claiming to have been sexually assaulted when they were minors; immediately those who claimed to have been assaulted as adults clamored for the same treatment, and after several years’ more campaigning they succeeded in persuading the legislature to give them the same opportunity, either to recover for genuine wrongs done them long before, or to convince a jury of a well-rehearsed fable, depending. Carroll was just one of hundreds plaintiffs who took advantage of this, some of whom may even have been telling the truth.
2. In both cases the statute was lifted only for civil suits, not for criminal charges, precisely because the ex-post-facto clause only bars criminal laws not civil ones. You can’t prosecute someone under a law that didn’t exist when you allege he violated it; but you can sue him. A civil law doesn’t say “How dare you have done this; now we will punish you”; it says “You caused this harm to this person; now you will pay him for it”. It’s not punishment, it’s compensation. So the clause doesn’t apply.
3. However, allowing suits so long after the events are alleged to have taken place has the same flaws that criminal charges would have. It makes it unreasonably difficult to defend oneself from them.
Sometimes the defendant can’t even honestly deny the claim, because it’s something that he might have done and he can’t remember whether he actually did it; especially when the defendant is an employer, who is being held liable for something a former employee is alleged to have done — how could the employer possibly know whether the plaintiff is telling the truth, all he can say is that he has no knowledge of it, while the plaintiff is swearing up and down that he is. Especially if the actual alleged offender is now conveniently dead and can’t be questioned. How is that fair? But it’s constitutional.
“The law wasn’t made for Trump, and wasn’t motivated by Trump-hatred. “??? Uh huh. So what if some form of this had been contemplated for years (if true). The motivation and push to enact here was SPECIFICALLY to get President Trump, although I suspect Google AI would advise otherwise. Probably because it’s informed with garbage from the NY Times et al.
we got into this before and I posted the news story that showed the law as intended at first directly with harvey Weinsteins name being used then trumps
ANOTHER different angle here:
A New York lawmaker who’s survived a sexual assault as a teen has reintroduced a bill that was crafted largely in response to the controversial 4-3 decision by the state’s top court last April that threw out the 2020 rape conviction of film producer Harvey Weinstein.
NY Lawmaker Eager to Advance ‘Weinstein Bill’ in 2025 to Open Door to Evidence of Prior Sexual Offenses
Timing and pushback led to the bill’s demise in the 2024 legislative session. Now New York State Assemblymember Amy Paulin, D-Westchester, is urging her colleagues to take another look at the measure and is optimistic about her chances to succeed. Defense counsel are prepared to put up a fight.
https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2025/01/15/ny-lawmaker-eager-to-advance-weinstein-bill-in-2025-to-open-door-to-evidence-of-prior-sexual-offenses/?slreturn=20260529100631
As always, Democrats gotta Democrat.
This is one you should really keep mum on, Democrat–as you voted in support of it.
(Via CBS) – […] “On Wednesday evening, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News that the investigation was focused on whether Carroll had committed perjury during a deposition in connection with her civil lawsuits against Mr. Trump in which she alleged he had sexually abused and defamed her.
On Thursday, however, that source followed up and said Carroll is not the target of the investigation, which is focused on funding that Hoffman’s nonprofit, American Future Republic, provided to help cover some of her legal team’s expenses.
The headline seems to imply the opposite of what the article states.
DOJ’s prosecution is “beyond lawfare?”
Accusations of rape 25 years ago should be laughed out of court. Trump is the new Dreyfus. His persecutors should be prosecuted and have the book thrown at them.
I support Trump against this self-centered bitch craving the limelight. But it is sickening to read the accounts here by lapdogs claiming Carroll was just not beautiful enough for the dashing Trump to do.
She made TWO CONTEMPORANEOUS reports of this to friends who were grilled on the stand and not shaken one iota. Trump dogged her, probably willingly, so just stop idolizing this wretched spoiled playboy who happens to be doing some very good things for the country.
Or she found two friends to lie for her and claim to remember her telling them something many years ago, knowing that no one can prove they’re lying.
It is no easy matter to get two people to agree to perjure themselves. Harder still to have them lie convincingly under withering, skillful cross examination.
You’re correct, it is no easy matter, but hard matters happen, and frequently when it comes to Trump. The Russia collusion hoax was no easy matter either, yet, it still happened. If there was no contradicting evidence, the two “witnesses” may have held more sway, but much like Blasey-Ford, there’s simply too much evidence to the contrary.
wrong on this one
“its no easy matter to get 2 people to perjure”
this is politics and “lying” and its definitions/defense/consequences are all thrown into a mixer
who would prosecute the 2? and ,,more importantly be successful?
the left had whole squads of people lying. about demvid19 etc etc and they even brought some gop’ers on board
The charges by this harridan were so outlandish it took a special kind of TDS to allow it into court and get a verdict. The idea that Trump who was and is known for liking quite beautiful women would wander across a NYC street alone, into a department store, go upstairs into the ladies department, pick up this person and have an afternoon liaison in a changing room then cruise back to his building is so off the charts nuts the entire thing should be thrown out. The fact she can’t even name the year, month or what she was wearing is beyond laughable. The jury should be in jail, the judge removed from the bench and the lawyers disbarred.
And it wasn’t just any department store: Bergdorf Goodman. Doubtful that the sales person would have unlocked the dressing room door for her. Total BS and the jury knew it.
Think it may have been Henry David Thoreau who first asked, “Was she lying then, or is she lying now?”
Talk about a vipers’ nest: George Conway, Kathy Griffin and E Jean Carroll in the same room. They all should be locked up in the same cell.
And here’s something to think about …. her supposed inability to even determine a year during which the crime occurred denied Trump the ability to prove he was somewhere else
NY EXTENDING THE LAW AGAINN!!!!!!
On January 29, 2026, the New York City Council expanded the Gender-Motivated Violence Act (GMVA), giving survivors more time to pursue sexual abuse lawsuits against individuals and institutions that enabled or failed to prevent abuse.
The passing of this legislation comes after a judge dismissed over 450 New York sexual abuse lawsuits filed against city-run juvenile detention centers. The court ruled that, under the prior version of the GMVA, survivors didn’t clearly have the right to sue institutions, only individuals.
If you were sexually abused in NYC on or before January 9, 2022, you may now have another opportunity to take legal action for the harm you experienced — but this could be your last chance.
A new “lookback window” is scheduled to open from March 2026 through March 2027. During this time, survivors who previously filed lawsuits between March 2023 and March 2025 may be able to amend or refile their claims.
https://www.sokolovelaw.com/blog/new-york-lookback-window-for-abuse-claims/
she probably fingered herself b/c rosie o wasnt handy
They are now reporting this was a false CNN story and not investigation is happening.
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